


In All My Dreams

by likehandlingroses



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 23:48:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20497388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likehandlingroses/pseuds/likehandlingroses
Summary: Molly can't imagine why Arthur wants to take her all the way out to Ottery St. Catchpole in his new car...but she loves him enough to take the ride and see.





	In All My Dreams

Molly clutched the picnic basket on her lap tighter, wincing at every bump in the road.

“Alright?” Arthur turned to her, his cheeks flushed with excitement. 

“Is it supposed to be so loud?”

“It takes some getting used to, but she’s got a beautiful engine.” Arthur squinted into the setting sun. “That’s what the Muggle at the service station said.” 

Molly’s eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know!” Arthur said with a laugh. “But it sounds promising, doesn’t it?”

Arthur took the car down yet another unfamiliar road. He’d told Molly he’d found a new spot for their picnic, and he had eagerly suggested they take his new car for the ride down. 

“I’m properly licensed, now!” he’d said with pride. Molly didn’t have the heart to tell him that it was the  _ car’s _ reliability she was worried about. 

Anyway, Arthur had never balked at any of her plans--be it sneaking out at night to wander the Hogwarts grounds or spending hours in a queue for Celestina Warbeck tickets. She really didn’t have any choice but to return the favor. And he’d been so sweet, opening the car door for her and showing her how to crank the windows down if it got too hot. 

“And front seat gets to choose the music,” he’d said, showing her how to fiddle with the knob to tune into the right radio station. 

When the window was down and Arthur drove slowly through the “scenic routes” as Celestina played on the radio, Molly could almost forget she was riding in a Muggle death-trap. 

She wouldn’t have done it for almost anyone else, but Arthur was the best boy in the world. Molly would ride across the world in his noisy, bumpy car if it made him half as happy as he’d made her. 

Nevertheless, she breathed a sigh of relief when Arthur stopped the car just outside of Ottery St. Catchpole. 

“Here we are!” Arthur jumped out of the car and hurried to Molly’s side, taking the picnic basket in one hand and Molly’s arm in the other. 

In front of them was a crumbling fixture that might have been a pig pen in the past, though Molly could detect no further evidence of a farm. The countryside itself was lovely--green and quiet. The river was just outside of earshot, but knowing it was close by still lent a certain beauty to the scene. 

“What do you think?” Arthur said, and Molly could tell from the excitement in his voice that he had something other than a picnic planned. 

“It’s beautiful...but I won’t know what to think until you tell me why you picked this spot, of all places.” 

Arthur grinned. 

“I was thinking of buying the land.” 

“Buy it?” Molly said, dumbfounded. “But what would you do with it?”

“Build a house, of course!” Arthur said, taking both of Molly’s hands in his own. “My house. Our house, if you wanted. I know you said how much you liked Devon when you used to visit your aunt.” 

“Our—?” Molly searched Arthur’s face as if it might answer the thousand questions buzzing in her mind. “But we aren’t even married, or--or _ engaged _ , or...Arthur, a  _ house _ ?”

“But we could be!” Arthur’s eyes were lit with an enthusiasm Molly had never seen, and she thought he might squeeze her fingers off. “We could be married right now, if you wanted to. We could marry and buy this place and do whatever we like with it!” 

In her heart, Molly had already said yes a hundred times, and Arthur knew it. She could see it in his smile; he understood her too well. She lifted her chin and pretended to think about it, a devilish grin growing on her face. 

“Well, first you’ll have to ask me properly…” she said, even as she squeezed his hands just as fiercely as he had hers. 

To her surprise, he looked apologetic as he dropped to one knee. 

“I don’t have a ring, yet…” he admitted. “It was that or having enough for the land, and I...well, I thought this would mean more to you. But I’ll get you one, whatever you want, Moll, when I have—”

Molly shook her head. “—I don’t care about the ring, Arthur, just—”

“—get to the bit where I talk about how wonderful you are?” Arthur said. “And how much I love you, and how happy it makes me to think there’s even a possibility I could spend the rest of my life with you?” 

“Yes.” Molly’s heart was thudding in her chest, and she felt the irritating urge to cry. She  _ never  _ did that… “You might as well skip to that bit.” 

But Arthur had hardly gotten the first words out before Molly pulled him back onto his feet and threw her arms around his neck as she kissed him. 

“You know I’d marry you anytime, anywhere,” she said, looking him in the eye before kissing him again.

“I love you.” Arthur said, pressing his forehead against hers.

“I love you,” Molly whispered. “One more, then…” 

Molly could feel Arthur’s smile widening as they kissed again under the setting sun. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This is inspired by Taylor Swift's "Paper Rings."


End file.
